Category Archives: Hawkins

The lack of activity on this site since January reflects the fact that I’d reached something of a dead end in my exploration of the Langworth family and their recusant connections. To date, I’ve been unable to find any evidence of recusant activity in the life of Francis Langworth (1597 – 1688), youngest son of Dr John Langworth (1547 – 1614), despite the fact that he married into the Catholic Darell family of Calehill, Kent. Two of Francis’ sisters, Mary and Helen, married known recusants.

Canterbury Cathedral in the 17th century

However, my interest in the Langworths has been re-awakened by some new information sent to me by Emily Buffey, the doctoral researcher in English Literature whose original email first sparked my curiosity about the family. Emily has come across a reference to Dr John Langworth in a book about the ‘trial’ of John Howson before James I, which took place at Greenwich on 10th June 1615. Howson, a prominent cleric, was accused of ‘popery’ by the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot (1562 – 1633), a noted Calvinist. Howson’s answers to Abbot’s accusations were enough to convince the King that the charges were misplaced and to save his clerical career: he went on to become Bishop of Oxford and then Bishop of Durham.

George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury

The extract from the collection of Howson’s answers to Abbott, edited by Nicholas Cranfield and Kenneth Fincham, describes John Langworth as ‘a friend of Carier’. Benjamin Carier or Carrier (1566 – 1614) was a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, chaplain to Archbishop John Whitgift and also to King James. Interestingly, Carrier was born in Kent and served as rector of Old Romney and then as a Prebendary of Canterbury in 1608. John Langworth was also a Prebendary at Canterbury Cathedral until his death in 1614. Benjamin Carrier travelled abroad some time in the early 1610s, ostensibly for the benefit of his health, but in reality to make contact with exiled Catholics and to be received into the Church, on whose behalf he then proceeded to write a series of polemical works. It was partly Carrier’s conversion that placed John Howson, another good friend of his, under suspicion. One can imagine a similar shadow being cast over his Canterbury colleague John Langworth.

Cranfield and Fincham quote from a letter of 16th March 1613 from Archbishop Abbott to the diplomat Dudley Carleton (1573 – 1632), in which he writes:

You wrote unto mee once concerning two Lungworths [sic], whose father was a greate Papist, althought a Dr. of Divinity. Hee was a notable Hypocrite, and a man suspected all his time, but went to Churche, and received the Communion. His second sonne called Arthur is lately dead at Padua, as I am informed. But the other brother is come home, and for his demerith abrode lyeth now in the Gatehouse.

This is intriguing, not only for confirmation of the suspicion that Dr John Langworth was a ‘church papist’, but also for the information about his sons. Sources seem to disagree about the number and names of John Langworth’s children. According to the pedigree in the Visitation of Kent of 1619, John and his wife Frances only had two sons, Thomas being the eldest and Francis the second, as well as four daughters: Mary, Anne, Helen and Martha. In his will of 1613, or at least in the summary version available online, Langworth mentions three sons: ‘my youngest son Francis Langworth’, ‘Arthur my second son’ and ‘my son John’. However, a note below this summary lists John Langworth’s children as Thomas, Arthur, John, Anthony, Francis, Mary, Helen and Martha.

The identity of the ‘other brother’ mentioned by Archbishop Abbott remains a mystery: was it Thomas, who married Margaret Clerke, daughter of Joseph Clerke of Surrey, or does his absence from his father’s will mean that he did not survive him? Or was it Francis? Presumably the ‘Gatehouse’ is the building of that name in Canterbury, which served as a prison. Further research will be needed to solve this mystery, but for now the most interesting thing about Abbott’s letter is the reference to the brothers’ absence abroad, and specifically to Padua. Did two of John Langworth’s sons follow the example of their father’s friend, Benjamin Carrier, and go abroad to make contact with Catholic exiles?

The University of Padua in the 17th century

As I’ve noted before, the university at Padua seems to have been a popular destination for English Catholic students seeking to avoid taking the Oath of Allegiance, which attendance at Oxford or Cambridge would have required of them. John Hawkins, the recusant physician and writer who was the brother-in-law of John Langworth’s daughter Mary, studied medicine there, as did John Kirton, nephew of John Hawkins’ brother Thomas.

This new information suggests that at least two of John Langworth’s sons were active recusants, rather than simply ‘church papists’ like their father. As for John himself, it seems that his Catholic sympathies emerged into the open at the very end of his life. Cranfield and Fincham note: ‘Catholic newsletters disclose that a Roman priest attended Langworth on his deathbed, although he was not received into the Catholic Communion.’

In the lastfewposts, I’ve been exploring the lives of Mary Langworth and her husband Richard Hawkins, an early seventeenth-century Kent landowner and prominent Catholic recusant. Before that, I wrote extensively about other members of the illustrious Hawkins family, all of whom were staunch Catholics, and before that about Mary Langworth’s sister Helen, who married Nathaniel Spurrett, another recusant. Mary and Helen Langworth were the daughters of Dr John Langworth, the poet and cleric who served as Prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral but was reputed to be sympathetic to Catholicism. According to the Langworth pedigree in the record of the 1619 Visitation of Kent, John Langworth and his wife Frances had seven children. Besides Helen and Mary, these were Thomas, Arthur, John, Anthony, Francis and Ann.

Of these, we probably know most about John’s youngest son Francis. In the pedigree included in the records of a later Visitation, which took place in 1663-8, Francis is said to be of Wilmington, which is in the north-west of Kent, near Dartford, and some forty-five miles from Canterbury. The pedigree places Francis’ father John in the same village, despite his official position in Canterbury and the fact that some records identify him with other properties in Kent. The pedigree states that Francis was 66 years old in 1663; we know from his tombstone that he was born in 1597. Francis Langworth followed in his father’s footsteps, going up to the Catholic-inclined Hart Hall, Oxford, and matriculating there on 31st October 1617. The list of Oxford alumni confirms that he was from Wilmington, but contradicts the Visitation record in claiming that his father John lived at Ospringe, near Faversham, where we know that John’s brother Adam owned property. In 1620 Francis Langworth was apparently a student at Grays Inn, London. On 7th July 1628 he married Mary Tucker, who was born in 1602, the daughter of George Tucker of Milton near Gravesend and his wife Mary, who was the second daughter of John Darell of Calehill. The wedding took place at Little Chart near Ashford, close to the ancestral home of the Darells at Calehill.

Parish church, Little Chart (via wikipedia)

This connection to the Darell family is one reason for my interest in Francis Langworth. The Darells of Calehill were another notable recusant family and were related to the Darells of Lamberhurst, whose history overlaps with that of my own ancestors. I’m interested to discover whether Mary Tucker inherited the religion of her mother’s family, and whether her husband Francis was, like his sister Mary and Helen, a Catholic. What do we know of George Tucker and his family? Apparently he was born at Milton, the son of another George Tucker and his wife Maria Hunter. He married Mary Darell on 20th February 1598, also at Little Chart, where she had been born in September 1577, the daughter of John Darell. According to at least one source, Mary Darell was George Tucker’s second wife, his first being Elizabeth Staughton. The same source claims that George’s will, made in 1622, reveals that he and his brother Captain Daniel Tucker owned shares in the Bermudas and were members of the Virginia Company. Apparently some members of the family would migrate to Virginia and become leading figures in the colony. Mary Darell, the mother-in-law of Francis Langworth, was the daughter of John Darell of Calehill, who died in 1618. Among his other offspring were Nathaniel Darell, a governor of Guernsey, and John Darell, a gentleman harbinger to both James I and Charles I.

Calehill House – demolished in the 1950s (via lost heritage.org.uk)

According to the 1663 pedigree, Francis and Mary Langworth had three sons and a daughter, though other sources claim they had a greater number of children. At the time of the Visitation their son George Langworth was said to be of Froome in Somerset. Francis, their son and heir, was said to be 33 years old in 1663, which means he was born in about 1630. Daniel was apparently their second son. Their daughter Elizabeth was said to be the wife of George Sidley or Sedley of the parish of St Dunstan’s in Fleet Street, London. (The name Sidley or Sedley recurs in the Darell family tree: John Darell’s sister Elizabeth married a Robert Sidley, and his daughter Elizabeth married a Richard Sedley). Inscriptions on the family tombs in Wilmington parish church confirm that there were a number of other Langworth children who died young. For example:

Here lies the remainder of Mary Langworth, daughter of Francis Langworth who departed this life April 30 1663 at the age of [?18] years 3 months and – days.Here lyeth interred the bodyes of Sarah and Bartholomew Langworth. She dyed ye 5th of September 1650 aged 19 yeares 9 moneths. He dyed April 24th 1653 at ye age of eight yeares 1 moneth 22 dayes. She was the eldest daughter and he the 6th sonne of Francis Langworth.

Francis Langworth died in 1688 at the age of 91, while Mary lived for another 13 years, dying in 1701 at the age of 98. Born in the last years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they had lived through the reigns of James I and Charles I, the Civil War and execution of the King, the Restoration under Charles II, and the short reign of James II. Francis died a few months before the coup that ousted James and brought William of Orange to the throne, while Mary survived almost until the reign of Queen Anne. The inscription of their tomb reads as follows:

Here rest the bodyes of Francis Langworth, gent., and Mary his wife who lived in wedlock sixty years and were married ye 7th of July 1628. The parents of seven sons and three daughters. He died the 1st day of June 1688 aged 91 years and 3 months being the 5th son of John Langworth, D.D. decd. Born February 25th 1597. She dyed the 29th day of January 1701 aged 98 years and 10 months being the second daughter of George Tucker, Esq., of Milton iuxta Gravesend, decd. Born March 1st 1602.

Their married daughter Elizabeth is also buried in Wilmington church, as we read in the following inscription:

Here rest the body of Elizabeth Sedley daughter of Francis Langworth, gent., of this parish and relict of George Sedley citizen of London by whom she had issue 2 sons and 5 daughters. She died ye 8 of October 1693 aged 61 years 15 days.

I’ve been unable to find any records that associate Francis or Mary Langworth with recusancy, or any indication of their religious sympathies. Francis made his last will and testament in August 1666, two years before his death. I’ll discuss the will in my next post, and among other things I’ll be scrutinising it for evidence of his religious affiliation.

Before Christmas I posted my transcription of the 1640 will of the recusant Kent landowner, Richard Hawkins, the husband of Mary Langworth. In this post I’ll share some reflections on what the will can tell us about Richard, his family and his Catholic connections.

Richard asks to be ‘decentlie buryed’ in the parish church at Boughton-under-Blean, next to his brother Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, who was recently deceased, and his parents Thomas Hawkins the elder and ‘Dame Anne his wife’, both of whom had died about fifteen years previously.

Hawkins family tomb, parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Boughton-under-Blean

Richard Hawkins makes generous provision in his will for five children – his sons John and Charles, and his daughters Katherine, Bennet and Martha. I haven’t been able to discover what became of any of them, though Katherine is probably the niece who is mentioned in the will of Richard’s brother Thomas Hawkins the younger. Notable by her absence from the will is Richard and Mary Hawkins’ other daughter Anne who, as I mentioned in an earlier post, joined a community of English Franciscan nuns in exile in Brussels and would have been about thirty years old when her father died.

Among the properties left to his younger son Charles is one in Selling, near Boughton, called ‘Solestreete’, which Richard had apparently purchased from Anthony and Thomas Langworth. These were almost certainly the sons of Adam Langworth, the brother of Richard’s father-in-law Dr John Langworth – and therefore his wife Mary’s cousins. This suggests a continuing close relationship between the Hawkins family and their Langworth relatives, though I have no information as to whether Adam Langworth or his offspring were also recusants.

At least two other relatives were among the witnesses to Richard Hawkins’ will. One of these was William Pettit, who was probably his cousin (Richard’s mother’s maiden name was Pettit). The Pettits, who lived at Colkyns in Boughton, were another prominent Kent recusant family. The other was Katherine Kirton, who was almost certainly a relative of the recusant physician John Kirton, described as a nephew in the will of Richard’s brother Thomas Hawkins the younger. Katherine may have been John Kirton’s sister, or perhaps his mother.

We learn from Richard Hawkins’ will that he had purchased annuities from two prominent members of the Staffordshire gentry, suggesting a connection of some kind with that county. Sir Richard Fleetwood of ‘Kullwidge’ (Culwich or Caldwick) had been created a baronet in 1611 by James I and served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire. Sir Walter Heveningham of Pipe had also served as High Sheriff. Both men were staunch Catholics and, despite their public status, had suffered for their recusancy, with Sir Walter and his wife being fined frequently for their non-attendance at church.

In the last post I wrote about the recusant Richard Hawkins of Selling, Kent, who married Mary Langworth, daughter of the clergyman and poet Dr John Langworth. Richard Hawkins died in 1642, the first year of the English Civil War, but he had made his last will and testament two years previously. My transcription of the will follows, and in the next post I’ll discuss what we can learn from it about Richard’s family and associates.

In the name of God Amen the twentie fourth daie of November Anno Domini One thousand six hundredth fortie and one I Richard Hawkins of the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the Countie of Kent Esquire beinge in perfect health and in a disposing memory I give God heartie thankes And yet knowinge nothinge to be more uncertaine than the houre of Death, Therefore while good opportunitie serveth, And also to prevent worldlie cogitacons against the time or houre of my death, And that I maie bee wholly intentive to the good of my Soule in prepareinge for the greater Accompt of all Accompts I have to make, to sett a perfect order and stay for my wife and children, that after my death noe variance strife or debate neither in present or future maie arrise about the same soe neere as in mee lyeth to prevent, ffor which respecte I doe make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following ffirst I bequeath my Soule into the handes of Almightie God my Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier most humblie and from the bottome of my hearte craving and asking mercy pardon and forgivenesse of all my sinnes that through frailtie I have comitted in the whole course of my life, appealing in this behalf from his Justice, unto his incomprehensible Mercie without the which noe flesh can bee saved, Trustinge and confiding through the merritte of the precious passion of Christ Jesus his sonne whome I acknowledge to bee my Mediator and Saviour, will graunt mee full remission of all my former sinnes and misdeeds whatsoever comitted, beseeching him whensoever I shall departe this life, I maie dye a perfect member of his misticall bodie the auntient holly Catholique and appostollicall Church, And my bodie I will to be decentlie buryed in Boughton Church next unto my Brother Sir Thomas, and neere my ffather Sir Thomas Hawkins knight, and Dame Anne his wife my deere and most honoured Parents which I leave to the discrecon of my Executor hereafter named. Imprimis I give to the poore of the parish of Boughton abovesaid twelve pence a piece to fortie of the poorest people the next daie after my buryall. And also I doe give to thirtie two of the poorest of the said parish every St Thomas daie before Christmasse one seame of wheate and halfe a seame of Maulte for five yeares together The wheate to bee delivered out in Pecks and the Maulte in gallons by my Executor or his assignes. Item I give unto thirtie of the poorest in Hernhill twelve pence a piece the next daie after my buryall Item I give unto twentie of the poorest of the Parishe of Sellinge twelve pence a piece the next daie after my buryall. Item I give and bequeath to my Daughters Katherine and Bennett to each of them One thousand poundes apiece of lawful money of England to bee paid unto them by my Executor hereafter named at their respectives age of twentie one yeares or daies of marriages which shall first happen. Item I give and bequeathe to my Daughter Martha the remainder of her porcon I promised her three hundreth and fiftie poundes to bee paid unto her by my said Executor within one yeare after my decease If it bee not before that tyme paid. Item I give and bequeath to my youngest sonne Charles the some of fower hundreth poundes of lawfull money of England to bee likewise paid unto him by my said Executor within one yeare after my decease If I make not a provision for him to that value over and above the lands and tenements I give him here in this present expressed. And untill the said respective porcons shall become due and payable unto my said Daughters Katherine and Bennett, my will and meaning is my Executor shall paie and satisfie unto them fortie poundes per Annum a piece at the two usuall feasts and daies of payment vizt. At the feast of Saint Michaell Tharkaungell and Thannunciacon of our blessed Lady St Mary the virgin by even and equall porcons toward their maynteynance and livelihood. And to my Daughter Martha in like manner until her said porcon shall become due and payable twentie poundes per Annum to be paid her. And in case my said Executor shall not paie and satisfie unto my said Daughters respectively their said respective porcons as alsoe unto my said sonne Charles the said some of fower hundreth poundes at the tymes before lymitted, Then my will and meaning is That my said sonne and Daughters shall and maie as their said porcons shall become due and payable, And I do hereby give them full power and authoritie to enter into and upon Eleaven Closes of arable land meadowe and pasture lying in the severall Parishes of Boughton under the Bleane ffeversham and Hernhill in the Countie of Kent, three of which Eleaven Closes are called Knockinges the residue are called Beckleton, Washfield, Beadlesfield, the fower acres olde Boldry meade, longe meade, water meade and Lylly dolone [?] meade And alsoe into and upon one other parcel of land called Johnsens Crofte and Bournefield conteyninge fowerteene acres lyinge in Boughton and ffeversham aforesaid, And alsoe unto and upon all those six parcells of land called Black Marsh heelers Marsh foord uplands and Denby Lees lyinge in the Parishes of Hernhill, Graveny, and Seasalter with their and every of their appurtenaunces in the said countie of Kent, And to take and receive the yssues and profitts thereof to their [???] uses to bee devided amongst them according to the proporcons of money each and one [???] to receive and not satisfied And if my said Executor shall not within the space of one yeare next after such Entry as aforesaid paie and satisfie unto my said Daughters and sonnes their said respective porcons, Then my will and meaning is, That my said Daughters or such of them as shall be living and unsatisfied of their said porcons shall and lawfully maie And I doe by this my will give them full power and authoritie to sell all or anie parte of the said premisses to anie person or persons whatsoever, And out of the moneys that shall bee made thereof, to paie themselves what shall be justlie due unto them together with all such damages as they shall anie waies have sustained by reason of their non payment of their said porcons accordinge to this my will, And after their said respective porcons and damages shall bee satisfied, what shall remaine over and above my will and desire is that shall be paid and delivered to my said Executor. And alsoe I give and bequeath unto my sonne Charles my Messuage or Tenemt called Solestreete in the Parishe of Sellinge in the countie of Kent aforesaid purchased of Anthony and Thomas Langworth gentlemen And all the orchards profitts and appurtenances thereunto belonginge or apperteyninge to him my said sonne Charles and the heires male of his bodie lawfully begotten. And for fault of such yssue, to the heires males of my sonne John lawfully begotten, if he my said sonne John have anie heirs male of his bodie at the tyme of my sonne Charles his decease Otherwise to my said sonne Charles and his heires for ever. And alsoe my will and meaning is, And I doe give him all the furniture in the howse and stocked without doors, as it shall bee found at the tyme of my decease, or as usually it hath beene furnished within and without doors when I dwelled there. And alsoe I doe give and bequeath unto my said sonne Charles my Tenement called Barne Wyland, And all the newe found lands, newe fresh marshes Together with the salte in the said Tenement belonginge or apperteyninge late purchased of John Abrooke belonginge I give unto my said sonne Charles to him and his heires for ever. And whereas differences and questions maie arrise after my decease betweeene my wife and my sonne John concerning the third of my Estate for her Dowrie if shee be not satisfied with her former Joynture My desire is That in regard the severall somes of moneye given to my Daughters for their porcons, as alsoe the land given to my sonne Charles, together with my debts and legacies rises to a considerable value I wish and heartily desire that for good respecte my said wife incline for the consideracons aforesaid to moderacon and Motherly love least hee bee pinched with the maine [???] and debt, And I will and desire, and my true meaning herein is, That if good accord happen betweene them in the aforesaid premisses without too much stricktnesse on my wifes parte, Then I will and bequeath unto my said wife one hundred Markes and a Chamber well furnished for her degree and calling Otherwise I must leave it to God and their best natures and [???] [???], And hope they will soe compose thinges, That their friends and neighbours maie be edified by their example. And whereas I have purchased longe since of Sir Richard Fleetewood of Kullwidge, in the countie of Stafford Knight for the consideracon of five hundred poundes an Annuitie of twentie poundes per Annum for ever, with a proviso therein to bee redeemed upon the payment of the aforesaid some, and all the arrears thereon due which on the five and twentieth daie of this present November there is due unto mee Eleaven yeares and a halfe behind and unpaid. And whereas alsoe I have purchased longe since of Sir Walter Heveningham of Pype in the aforesaid countie of Stafford knight for the consideracon of two hundred poundes An Annuitie of twentie poundes per Annum for ever with a Provisoe therein to be redeemed upon the repayment of the aforesaid some, And also rents and arrears that shall happen then to bee due and unpaid. Both which said Annuities and all the arreares thereon due or hereafter shall bee due unto my Executor, I give it unto him for and towarde the raising of my childrens porcons above menconed And alsoe I give him all my goods and chattles of what name or nature soever Except that I have before herein bequeathed for the raising of my said childrens porcons, And for and towards the payment of my debts and legacies and pforming this my last Will and Testament. And I doe make constitute and ordaine my lovinge sonne John Hawkins gent my sole Executor, And whatsoever is or maie bee defective in this my Will and Testament for want of right understandinge in the laws, I doe ratifie the same by my will intention and playne meaning herein, And doe further charge my said sonne John by all the power and prereogative due to a ffather that he not onlie performe this my last will and Testament according to my intention and playne meaning, But alsoe that he be dutifull to his Mother, loving to his Brothers and Sisters, and helpful in all occasione to doe them good whereby true love maie be conserved amongest them, In all which I am right confident hee will. And whereas since I began the writinge of this my last Will and Testament, I have sealed a Deed unto my sonne Charles of those lands in Wade [???] [???] And alsoe Solestreet and the land thereunto belonginge purchased of Thomas and Anthony Langworth gentlemen in the parishe of Sellinge before in this presente menconed which in consideracon of his marriage and advancement, I have settled it upon him parte in present for his lyvelyhood and his wifes Joynture, the rest after my decease, And also I have sealed unto him a bond of Eight hundred poundes fo the payment of ffower hundred poundes one yeare after my decease. This therefore is a confirmacon both of my bequest aforesaid and my late Deed and bond to his use, Accordinge to the Deed therein expressed and not otherwise. Item I give unto my eldest and youngest daughter to each of them tenn poundes a peece to buy a piece of plate if they thinke good. Item I give unto all my servaints that dwelleth with mee at the tyme of my decease twentie shillinges a piece, Except William Blake thirtie shillinges, and to [???] ffin a Noble. The residue of all and singuler my goods chattels and cattles of what name or nature soever they bee called not before herein given or bequeathed I give unto my Executor abovesaid nominated and appointed for and towards the raising of my childrens porcons and payment of my debts and legacies, and for and towards the pformance of this my last Will and Testament. And so leaving Gods blessing and myne amongest my children beseeching Almightie God to indue them all with his holy grace, I comitt myself to the infinite mercy and goodnes of the Almightie, and them to his holy protection. In witnes whereof I have hereunto put my hand to every one of the three sheetes of paper wherein my last will and Testament is expressed and declared, and my hand and seale to the last sheete the daie and yeare first above written One thousand six hundred fortie one. Richard Hawkins. Subscribed Sealed and Declared this to bee my last Will and Testament in the presence of those who names are hereunder written. William Petit, Katherine Kirton, Elizabeth Smith, Walter Watson.

My exploration of a network of recusant families in Elizabethan and Jacobean Kent and Sussex began with the Langworth family, and specifically with the children of Dr John Langworth, the cleric and poet who was reputed to be a church papist. Having examined the life of John Langworth’s daughter Helen, who married Nathaniel Spurrett and whose daughter Frances joined an exiled Franciscan convent, I turned my attention to Helen’s sister Mary, who married into the Catholic Hawkins family of Boughton-under-Blean near Canterbury. I’ve taken a roundabout route to finally arrive at Mary herself, having followed a number of detours to explore the Hawkins family and their connections with other noted Catholic families, such as the Hildesleys, Finches and Knatchbulls. In recent posts I’ve written about Mary’s three brothers-in-law: the poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, the physician, translator and grammarian John Hawkins, and the Jesuit priest and author Henry Hawkins; and about her three sisters-in-law: Susan Finch of Grovehurst, Anne Hildesley of Little Stoke, and Benedict Hawkins who joined the exiled Benedictine community in Brussels.

Parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Boughton-under-Blean

Now it’s time to turn to Mary Langworth, who married Richard Hawkins, yet another Hawkins sibling. The parish register of Boughton-under-Blean includes the following entry for 1581:

The 28th of Decebr was bapt. Rychard Haukyns the sonne of Thomas Haukyns, Ju., gent.

(Note: the person referred to here as Thomas Hawkins junior was the man I have been calling Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder, who was in fact the son of yet another Thomas Hawkins.) Like his brothers and sisters, Richard was born at Nash Court, Boughton, while Mary, his future wife, would have grown up either in nearby Canterbury, where her father Dr John Langworth served as Prebendary until his death in 1614, or at one of the country properties that he is said to have owned, possibly even closer to Boughton. I don’t have a record of their marriage, but I would imagine it took place some time in the first decade of the seventeenth century, either in the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign or in the early years of the reign of King James I.

Oast house at Selling, Kent (via wikipedia)

We can ascertain a certain amount about Richard and Mary Hawkins from the Who were the Nuns? website. From this we learn that their daughter Anne, who was born in about 1610, joined the Franciscans in Brussels, being clothed on 15th September 1629 at the age of 17, and taking the additional name Bonaventure. Her cousin Frances Spurrett had joined the same convent a few years earlier and was actually professed two days after Anne’s clothing. The website provides us with some clues about Anne’s family. For example, we learn that they lived at Selling, about three miles south of Boughton. But we also learn that Anne was born in Clerkenwell, leading us to assume that the Hawkinses also kept a house in London – although, intriguingly, her uncle Henry Hawkins, S.J., was said to live at the Jesuits’ secret residence in Clerkenwell. Anne Bonaventure Hawkins left the Franciscan convent in Brussels in 1658/9 to help found a Conceptionist community in Paris. She served there as novice mistress, portress and later as vicaress, a post which she resigned in 1680. Apparently she accompanied Abbess Elizabeth Timperley on business to England in 1662. Anne died in Paris on 4th May 1689 at the age of 79. The Hawkins family tree at the Who were the Nuns? website suggests that Richard and Mary had at least two other children. Apparently their son John married Mary Wolllascot and they had four children: Thomas Hawkins, who married Catherine Gifford; Mary Hawkins, who married James Bryan; and Susanna Joseph Hawkins and Anne Domitilla Hawkins who joined their aunt Anne’s Conceptionist convent in Paris. Another niece of Anne Hawkins who became a Conceptionist was Mary Teresa Harris, one of the two daughters of Richard and Mary Hawkins’ daughter Martha, who married Richard Harris. Richard and Martha Harris’ other daughter was named Winifred Mary.

St Beatriz da Silva, founder of the Conceptionists

Unsurprisingly, Richard Hawkins, like other members of his family, was frequently in trouble because of his recusancy. For example, in 1640 Richard’s name appeared in a list of local recusants, together with his nephew Clement Finch of Milton and his cousin William Pettit of Boughton. However, in an account of the diocese of Canterbury during the reign of Charles I we read the following:

Eventually, a few harried recusants, such as Richard Hawkins of Selling, Henry Roper of Hartlip, and Susan Finch of Preston-next-Faversham, were permitted liberty of conscience.

Richard Hawkins’ will, made in November 1640 (he died in 1642), is a useful source of information about his family and associates. For example, we learn from this document that he and Mary had another son, Charles, and two other daughters, Bennet and Katherine. I’ll share my transcription of Richard’s will in the next post.

In recent posts I’ve been exploring the lives of the children of the recusant Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder of Boughton under Blean, Kent, who died in 1617. In this post, I’m turning my attention to Thomas’ daughter Susan or Susanna. The Boughton parish register for 1580 includes the following entry:

The vith of Septebr was bapt. Susan Haukins the Daughter of Thomas Haukyns the youngr.

We know, from an account of the life of Susan’s brother, Henry Hawkins S.J., that she married John Finch of Grovehurst, at Milton next Sittingbourne, who was also said to be a recusant. Sittingbourne is about ten miles north-west of Boughton under Blean. Milton, in some documents called Middleton, is today a suburb of Sittingbourne and known as Milton Regis. A document reproduced at British History Online has this to say about Grovehurst:

Grovehurst, now usually called Grovers, is a manor situated somewhat less than a mile northward from the town of Milton. It was once the inheritance of a family of that name. Sir William de Grovehurst possessed it in the reigns of king Edward I and II as did his descendant Sir Richard Grovehurst in that of king Henry VII. At length Thomas Grovehurst, esq. in the reign of Edward VI alienated it to Clement Fynche, a branch of those of Netherfield, in Sussex, who were descended from Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, and ancestors of the several branches of this family from time to time created peers of this realm, whose arms they likewise bore.

It appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3rd year of queen Elizabeth, that he then held this manor in capite. He died in the 38th year of that reign and lies buried in the great chancel of this church, where is a monument erected to his memory, with the effigies of him, his two wives, and his son John Fynche, on it.

The thirty-eighth year of Elizabeth I’s reign was either 1595 or 1596 (my 11 x great grandfather John Manser of Wadhurst, Sussex, made his will on 26th December 1597 ‘in the fortieth yeare of the raigne of our soveraigne Lady Elizabeth’).

Finch family memorial in Holy Trinity Church, Milton Regis

John Finch’s father Clement Finch was the son of another John Finch who died in 1549. He made his will in the previous year, the third year of the reign of Edward VI, describing himself as ‘John ffynche of Myddleton nexte Syttyngborn in the Countye of Kent, gent.’ One of the executors of the will was Christopher Roper, who was almost certainly the Member of Parliament from Lynsted, the brother of William Roper who married Sir Thomas More’s daughter Margaret, and the father of John Roper, first Baron Teynham.

We learn from John Finch’s will that he was married three times. His third wife, Margaret, who was still living, had previously been married to (Robert?) Piper and by him had two sons, Richard and Robert, and two daughters, Joan and Margaret. John Finch’s two previous wives were called Ursula and Alice. Alice was previously the wife of John Knatchbull (confusingly rendered as Snachbull in the transcription that I found online) and her maiden name was Fowle. She was said to be from Tenterden. There is also mention in the will of a Thomas Fowle of Mersham Hatch, near Ashford (about fifteen miles from Tenterden), who presumably was a relative. I haven’t been able to find any link between this branch of the Fowle family and my own Fowle ancestors, who can be traced to Lamberhurst (though my supposed ancestor Bartholomew Fowle, the prior of St Mary Overie, Southwark, at the time of its dissolution, was said to be from Lynsted). The Knatchbulls also lived at Mersham.

John and Alice Knatchbull appear to have had a number of children before John’s death in 1540. I’ve been unable to find out anything about their son John, but another son, William, married Catharine Greene, daughter of John Greene. A third son, Richard, was married twice and had four daughters by each wife. He also had a number of sons, including Thomas Knatchbull, whose son Norton (1602 – 1685) was a member of Parliament and was made a baronet. A fourth Knatchbull son, Reginald, married Anne Elizabeth Crispe, daughter of William Crispe, lieutenant of Dover Castle. One of Reginald and Anne’s sons, John Norton Knatchbull, became a Jesuit, while their daughter, Elizabeth Lucy Knatchbull, joined the English Benedictines in Belgium and was the first abbess of their convent in Ghent (see this source on the relationship between brother and sister, and between the Jesuits and the Benedictines in exile). Reginald’s and Anne’s two other sons each had two daughters who also joined the Benedictines.

Mary Knatchbull, daughter of John and Alice, married Thomas Finch, son of the John Finch who died in 1549. Thomas Finch seems to have been married twice. His second marriage was to Bennet Norton, the widow of William Norton of Hernehill, and the daughter of William Maycott of Preston next Faversham, whose property Thomas would inherit. I believe that Bennet’s first husband William Norton was related to the Thomas Norton of Fordwich whose daughter Aphra was briefly married to Henry Hawkins, who after her death joined the Jesuits. Bennet Finch died in in 1612. In his will of 1615 Thomas Finch mentions ‘my brother Reginald Knatchbull’ and ‘my nephew Thomas Knatchbull’, confirming that his marriage to Mary Knatchbull had preceded his marriage to Bennet. Thomas appointed his nephew John Finch of Grovehurst as his executor and left him Preston House, also mentioning his wife ‘Suzan’.

Memorial to Thomas and Bennet Finch in Preston parish church, Kent

Thomas Finch had two brothers, Clement and Henry or Harry, both of whom are mentioned in their father’s will. Clement was the father of John Finch who married Susan Hawkins. I haven’t managed to find out much about him, but I suspect he was born in the 1540s and probably married (though we don’t have the name of his wife) in the late 1570s. However, we do know that he had another son besides John: I’ve found a baptismal record for Thomas Finch, son of Clement, in October 1580. There was also a daughter named Bennett who was christened at Milton in January 1582. She married Edward Hales of Chilham in about 1603 and they had five sons and seven daughters before Edward’s death on 10th January 1634. The will of Thomas Finch, brother of John, refers to ‘Bennet Hales, wife of Edward Hales, gent., my niece’. There is a plaque commemorating Edward and Bennet Hales in the north chancel of the parish church in Faversham (see below).

via flickr.com

I imagine that John Finch and Susanna Hawkins were married some time in the first decade of the seventeenth century, and certainly by 1608. I’ve found evidence of a Susan Finch being born to John Finch of ‘Milton at Sittingbourne’ in 1609. We also know that John and Susan Finch’s daughter Elizabeth, who would join the English Benedictine convent in Ghent, was born in 1614. Since the will of Susan’s brother Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, written in 1639, appoints his nephew Clement Finch as an overseer, I conclude that John and Susan Finch had a son of that name.

Elizabeth Finch took the additional name Aldegonde when she joined the Benedictines. She was clothed in Ghent on 13th December 1643 at the age of 29 and professed on 5th February 1647 at the age of 31. In 1665 Elizabeth left Ghent to help found another convent in Ypres, though she only stayed a year or so, returning to her former convent before the end of 1666. She died in Ghent on 1st February 1692 at the age of 78.

There’s firm evidence that Susan Hawkins remained true to her family’s Catholic faith after her marriage to John Finch. I’ve only found second-hand evidence of John’s recusancy, but the National Archives contains at least three documents attesting to Susan’s refusal to conform to the established protestant Church. In April 1607 an indictment in the records of the West Kent Quarter Sessions stated that ‘Susan, wife of John Finche of Milton, esquire, being over sixteen years of age “did not repaire” to the parish church of Milton or any other church for the space of two months.’ A similar indictment was issued in the following year. And on 15th January 1610 an Ecclesiastical Cause paper recorded the excommunication of a number of defendants, including ‘Lady Ann HAWKINS wife of Sir Thos H Boughton Blean, Sus FINCHE wife of John F Milton by Sittingbourne gent’: in other words, Susan Finch née Hawkins and her mother.

I’m not sure when John Finch died, but I’ve found a record of Susan’s death in 1641, which states that she was a widow. I assume that the Clement Finch of Grovehurst who made his will in 1645 was John and Susan’s son. If so, then during his relatively short life (he was probably only in his forties when he died), Clement and his wife Mary, who seems to have survived him, managed to produce four sons – John, Clement, Harbert and Charles – and three daughters – Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Philip (sic). There is evidence that John, Clement Finch’s eldest son and heir, maintained the family tradition of recusancy and as a result the family continued to be penalised after Clement’s death.

Judging by his will, there is no doubt that this Clement Finch held resolutely to the faith of his fathers, the preamble being the most explicitly Catholic that I’ve yet to come across, especially when we consider that it was written at the height of the Civil War and proved during the fourth year of Cromwell’s Commonwealth:

First I bequeath my soule into the blessed hands of my deare Saviour Jesus Christ who redeemed it with his precious blood firmly beleiveing all whatsoever his Spouse the holy Catholic Church holds and teaches out of which there is noe salvation.

Ann Hawkins was another of the daughters of the recusant Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder of Nash Court, Boughton under Blean, Kent. I haven’t been able to discover the date of Ann’s birth, but we know that she was probably married some time in the early 1620s.

Ann’s husband, William Hildesley, was descended from the Hildesleys of Crowmarsh Gifford, not far from Dorchester-on-Thames, on the borders of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. (It’s an area that I know well, having lived in nearby Abingdon in the 1980s, when I had responsibility as an adult education organiser for the group of villages just to the north of Crowmarsh.) There are records of the Hildesleys owning property in the villages of Beenham and Ilsley (which I imagine derives its name from the family, or vice versa) in the reign of Henry VII. An earlier William Hildesley, grandfather of the William who married Ann Hawkins, married Margaret Stonor, daughter of John Stonor of North Stoke (the Stonors were a prominent local recusant family who suffered much under the penal laws), and died in 1576.

East Ilsley (via sudokudragon.com)

The Hildesleys adhered to the Catholic faith, and Walter Hildesley, who succeeded his father William, suffered the loss of much of his property under the penal laws. He also came under suspicion at the time of the Gunpowder Plot. In the Recusant Roll of 1592 Walter’s estate, which included ‘two-thirds of Illesley or Hildesley Farm’ as well as some other property, was said to be leased to Charles Pagett, a groom of the queen’s chamber.

Walter Hildesley was succeeded by his younger brother William, who died in 1623. The preamble to William’s last will and testament is the most explicitly Catholic of any Jacobean will that I’ve seen so far: he bequeaths his soul ‘unto almightie god my onelye saviour and redeemer by whose death, merritts and passion I verily hope to be saved, as allsoe by the intercession of the blessed virgin Mary the mother of god & all the whollye Companye of Saints in heaven.’

William was succeeded by his son, another William, who, as a recusant, was forced to mortgage his lands. It was this William who married Ann Hawkins. I understand that William and Ann Hildesley, who lived at Little Stoke, had five children: one son and four daughters. Their son Francis (obviously a popular name in the extended Hawkins family) married Mary Winchcombe and inherited property in Ilsley and Little Stoke. As mentioned in the previous post, all four of William and Anne’s daughters entered the Sepulchrine order in Liège, Belgium, as follows:

Mary Hildesley, who was born in 1624, entered the convent on 5th July 1647 and professed on 15th February 1650 at the age of 29, taking the name Sister Mary Catherine of the Visitation. Mary served as Sub-Prioress between 1657 and 1661, and from 1664 to 1669. She died on 7th January 1693.

Catherine Hildesley, who was born in 1625, entered the convent on 11th April 1651 and professed on 26th June 1653 at the age of 28, taking the name Sister Catherine of Teresa. She died in 1698.

Anne Hildesley, who was born in 1626, entered the convent on 16th June 1648 and professed on 16th February 1650 at the age of 28, taking the name Anne Margaret of the Blessed Trinity. She died on 30th December 1691.

Susanna Hildesley, who was born in 1631, entered the convent on 16th September 1649, taking the name Magdalene of the Transfiguration, and professed on 5th September 1652 at the age of 21. She died on 9th April 1670.

I’m not sure when William Hildesley died, but we know that his property was inherited by his son Francis. Francis Hawkins and his wife Mary had three sons and one daughter. Their son William was born in 1653 and at least one source claims that he had a brother named Martin. Another brother, Francis the younger, joined the Society of Jesus. His sister Frances followed the example of her four aunts and joined the Sepulchrines in Liège. Born in 1662, Frances Hildesley entered the convent on 28th June 1680 and made her profession on 28th October 1681, taking the name Francis Mary Magdalene. She died in 1693 at the age of 29.

Chapel of St Amand and St John the Baptist, Hendred House

William and Martin Hildesley, sons of Francis Hildesley, were both said to be present at the re-dedication of St Amand’s Chapel at East Hendred, about five miles from East Ilsley, on Christmas Day 1687. One of the celebrants at that first Mass was their brother, Fr. Francis Hildesley, S.J.

The Chapel of St. Amand and St. John the Baptist in Hendred House had been built in 1256, with the permission of Pope Alexander IV. After the Dissolution of the Chantries in 1547, the chapel was no longer used for Mass, though the Eyston family of Hendred House were Catholic and certainly heard Mass in secret. The chapel is one of only three built in England before the Reformation that has never been used for protestant worship. It was restored by George Eyston during the reign of James II, a time of renewed hope for English Catholics after many years of persecution. However, James’ reign was cut short by the coup that put William of Orange on the throne, and in December 1688, less than a year after its re-opening, the chapel was ransacked by soldiers from William’s Dutch army, on their way from Hungerford to Oxford. So much for the ‘Glorious’ Revolution.

Hendred House (via picturesofengland.com)

Francis Hildesley S.J. died in 1719. His brother William married a woman named Mary and they had two daughters: Mary, who married Robert Eyston of East Hendred (presumably a relative of the George Eyston who restored the chapel); and Agnes, who married Peter Webbe. The Webbes had two daughters, Anne and Mary, both of whom joined the English Franciscan convent in Brussels – the same community that Frances Spurrett, daughter of Nathaniel Spurrett and Helen Langworth, had joined a century before them. The Eyston family also had close ties with the English Franciscans in Belgium, supplying them with numerous recruits during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Benedict was the first of a number of female members of the extended Hawkins family to join one of the English monastic communities in exile. On 22nd July 1610 she was received into the English Benedictine convent in Brussels. Exactly a year later, at the age of twenty-four, she was ‘invested with the holie Habitt of St Benedict’, and a year after that she made her profession, taking the name Barbara Benedict. Her dowry was 3800 florins. Sister Barbara Benedict served as sacristan in 1623 and again in 1652. She died in 1661, at the age of 75.

Six of Benedict Hawkins’ nieces would follow her example, choosing the life of a nun in an exiled English convent, as would five of her great nieces. This was in addition to Frances Spurrett, the niece of Benedict’s brother Richard Hawkins (Frances was the daughter of Helen Langworth, sister of Richard’s wife Mary; she entered the English Franciscan convent in Brussels in 1626). Richard and Mary Hawkins had one daughter who, like Frances Spurrett, joined the Franciscans in Brussels. Benedict’s sister Susan, who married John Finch of Grovehurst, had a daughter who joined the Benedictines in Ghent. Another sister, Anne, who married William Hildesley, had four daughters, all of whom joined the Sepulchrine order in Liège.

Benedictine nuns

To a modern sensibility, the idea of sending one’s daughters to a foreign country, to live in an enclosed, celibate community for the remainder of their lives, is difficult to understand. However, the historian Caroline Bowden has argued that, in the case of the English religious communities in exile, ‘care was taken to ensure that women entered convents of their own free will and evidence has survived from many of the convents showing that candidates could, and in fact did, leave if they changed their mind about joining.’ Bowden claims that, far from resenting the experience of religious enclosure, the exiled nuns seem positively to have welcomed separation from a secular world in which they and their families had experienced persecution and had been prevented from practising their religion freely.

I’ll write about the families of Ann, Susan and Richard Hawkins in separate posts.

John Hawkins was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder of Boughton under Blean, though his actual date of birth is unknown. As I noted in the previous post, John is said to have studied for his medical degree at Padua in Italy, almost certainly to avoid taking the oath of allegiance and supremacy. A database of London physicians of the period states that he had studied abroad for a period of seven or eight years, and on his return was told that he must be incorporated in a domestic university.

Mary Cavendish, Countess of Shrewsbury (via bbc.co.uk)

In 1915 the last number of the Eagle, the magazine of St John’s College, Cambridge, reproduced this letter of 1616 from the college’s benefactor, Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury:

To my very loving friend, Mr. Doctor Gwyn, Master of St. John’s College in Cambridge and Vice-Chancellor of that University

Good Mr. Doctor, —I have been earnestly moved in the behalf of this gentleman, Mr. Doctor Hawkins, to become a means unto you that where(as) he hath taken the degree of Doctor of Physic at Padua he may be received into the same degree in your university. For the which I earnestly pray you to do him what lawful favour you may, it being a thing (as I am informed) usually granted to men of his merit that sue for the same. And I shall acknowledge your kindness herein as opportunity may serve. And so with my hearty commendations will commit you to the protection of God.

Mary Cavendish, Countess of Shrewsbury (1556 – 1632), had converted to Catholicism as an adult. She was imprisoned for a time in the Tower of London, as a consequence of helping her niece Lady Arbella Stuart elope to the Continent.

John Hawkins married Frances Power, daughter of Francis Power or Poure of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire, some time before 1628. Frances Power’s sister Margaret, who married Edward Ewer, was known to be Catholic. John’s father-in-law is almost certainly the Francis Poure who made his will in 1619, from which we discover that his wife Anne was the sister of Sir John Ferrers of Bayford, Hertfordshire, a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Francis Poure’s will bequeaths money to ‘my two younger daughters Mary and Anne’, but there is no mention of Frances, perhaps because she had already received a marriage settlement, which would mean that Frances married John Hawkins before 1619.

Francis Poure or Power died a few years before the birth of his grandson Francis Hawkins, which occurred in 1628. According to one source, John and Frances Hawkins may also have had another son, ‘from whom descend the family of Hawkins of Tredunnock, Monmouthshire.’

John Hawkins was known to be a staunch Catholic, and he appears in John Gee’s* list of ‘Popish Physicians in and about the City of London’ in 1624, as residing in Charterhouse Court, Smithfield. Contemporary records inform us that in 1626 Hawkins was required to pay an annual fine of £4, presumably on account of his recusancy.

As well as practicing as a physician, John Hawkins was also well-known as a grammarian and translator. His published works include the following:

‘A brief Introduction to Syntax, collected out of Nebrissa. … With the Concordance supplyed by J. H.,’ London, 1631

‘Discursus de Melancholia Hypochondriaca,’ Heidelberg, 1633

‘The Ransome of Time being captive. Wherein is declared how precious a thing is Time,’ London, 1634, written in Spanish by Andreas de Soto, and translated by J. H.

‘Paraphrase upon the seaven Penitential Psalms,’ London, 1635, translated from the Italian by J. H.

The date of John Hawkins’ death is unknown and I’ve been unable to locate his will. However, one source suggests that he practised medicine between 1616 and 1638, and as stated above, he published nothing after 1635. This would fit with the fact of his absence from the 1640 will of his brother Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger. (However, see the next paragraph, which suggests that John might still have been alive in 1641.)

An engraving of Francis Hawkins as a child, by John Payne

John Hawkins’ son Francis was a child prodigy who translated the French advice book ‘Youth’s Behaviour’ before he was eight years old. The translation was first printed in 1641, at his father’s request, by the publisher William Lee. The second edition of 1646 bears the following inscription:

‘Youth’s Behaviour, or Decency in Conversation amongst Men’ Composed in French by grave persons, for the use and benefit of their youth. Now newly turned into English by Francis Hawkins.’

The edition of 1654 contains an engraved portrait of the boy (see above), inscribed ‘François Hawkins tirant a l’aage d’huict ans,’ with four lines of English verse on his precocity. In his address to the reader the publisher apologises for ‘the Style … wrought by an uncouth and rough File of one in greene yeares.’ A fourth edition appeared in 1650, others in 1652, 1653, 1654, and 1663, and a ninth edition in 1668. A second part, entitled ‘Youth’s Behaviour; or Decency in Conversation amongst Women,’ was produced in London in 1664, with a portrait of Lady Ferrers, presumably Francis’ maternal grandmother, by the Puritan bookseller Robert Codrington. Francis is also known for a second work, ‘An Alarum for Ladyes’, translated from de La Serre, which he published at the age of ten.

The title page of ‘Youth’s Behaviour’

In 1649, at the age of 21, Francis Hawkins left England to join the Society of Jesus and was professed of the four vows on 14th May 1662. In 1665 he was socius (a kind of secretary or chief of staff) to the master of novices at Watten; in 1672 he was confessor at Ghent; and in 1675 he became Professor of Holy Scripture at Liège College. Unlike his uncle and fellow Jesuit Henry Hawkins, Francis did not join the English mission but served in mainly administrative roles in various Jesuit colleges on the Continent. Francis Hawkins died at Liege on 19th February 1681.

*A personal footnote

The anti-Catholic writer John Gee, compiler of the list of ‘popish physicians’ in which John Hawkins’ name appears, had a brother Orlando who was Registrar to the Court of Admiralty, in which capacity he was one of the signatories to the certificate admitting my 7 x great grandfather, the goldsmith Joseph Greene, to the freedom of the City of London, in 1693.

The last will and testament of the Catholic poet and translator, Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, which I transcribed in the previous post, includes references to a number of members of his family. Notable by their absence from the will (probably for the same pragmatic reasons as their omission from their father’s will of 1617) are Thomas’ brother Henry, the Jesuit priest, and his sister Bennet or Benedict, a nun in Belgium, both of whom were still living. Another significant absence is Sir Thomas’ brother John, the physician and author, and it seems likely that he predeceased him.

Thomas Hawkins appoints another sibling, his ‘wellbeloved brother’ Richard Hawkins, as sole executor of his will. It was Richard who married Mary Langworth, daughter of Dr John Langworth, with whom we began this exploration of connected recusant families. I believe that Thomas’ nephew Charles and his niece Katharine, both mentioned in the will, were the children of Richard and Mary. We’ll return to them in another post.

Panel of the Hawkins monument in Boughton church, showing Sir Thomas the younger and his brothers

Thomas makes bequests to his cousins Ann and William Pettit. These were members of his late mother’s family; as mentioned in previous posts, the Pettits were another known recusant family, also resident in Boughton under Blean. The will also includes a reference to ‘Ann Breadstreet my Aunts daughter’. The will of Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder had mentioned his cousin Ann Breadstreet or Bradstreet, and also Christopher Bradstreet, who may have been her husband.

Thomas leaves money to ‘my sister Finch’: this is Susan or Susanna Hawkins who married John Finch of Grovehurst, at Milton near Sittingbourne. They were the parents of Thomas’ nephew Clement Finch of Grovehurst, appointed as one of the overseers of the will. ‘My sister Hildesley’ is Ann Hawkins, the husband of ‘my loving brother William Hildesley’ of Little Stoke, Oxfordshire, also named as an overseer. I’ll discuss the Finches and Hildesleys, both of them well-known recusant families, in future posts.

I haven’t been able to find out anything further about the person Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘John Rookes my kinseman’. As for ‘my god sonne Thomas Crompton’, it’s possible he was a relative (son?) of Sir Thomas Crompton, the Member of Parliament and government officer, a number of whose family were said to be Catholic.

Pra del Valle in Padua by Canaletto (via wikimedia)

Thomas Hawkins makes a substantial bequest in his will to ‘my lovinge nephew John Kirton doctor of phisicke’. I’ve been unable to discover John Kirton’s precise connection to the Hawkins family. Given his surname, he might have been the son of one of Thomas’ sisters, but I haven’t found any trace of another surviving sister who might have married a man with the surname Kirton. Alternatively, John might have been related to Thomas Hawkins via his wife Elizabeth Smith: perhaps another Smith sister married a Kirton?

Interestingly, John Kirton seems to have studied medicine in Padua, Italy, and then to have been ‘incorporated’ at Oxford in 1633. There is a suggestion that Thomas Hawkins’ younger brother John, who was also a physician, followed a similar path, perhaps because completing his degree at Oxford would have meant taking the Oath of Allegiance. It appears that Padua was popular among Catholic students as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, partly for this reason. However, as Jonathan Woolfson explain in his book on English students at Padua in the Tudor period, there were other reasons for the city’s appeal: both Catholics and Protestants were drawn there because of its long tradition of welcoming foreign students, its reputation as a centre for humanist learning, and the fact that it existed outside the control of any civic or religious authority.

Probable likeness of Sir Robert Dudley, c. 1591 (via wikipedia)

John Kirton appears to have a had long association with Italy. He was physician to the explorer and cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, whom he assisted in his chemical experiments in Tuscany. After a colourful maritime career, Dudley had abandoned his family and left England in 1605 with his cousin and lover Elizabeth Southwell, who was disguised as a page. The couple declared that they had converted to Catholicism and Dudley married Elizabeth in Lyon in 1606, after receiving a papal dispensation, and then settled in Florence. Apparently John Kirton was still living in Florence in 1673, at the age of 70.

I’m not sure of the exact identity of the man whom Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘my deare friend Mr Thomas Chester’. He might be the Thomas Chester of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, the Royalist, described in one source as ‘an old Cavalier’, who was fined and had his property sequestered during the Civil War for ‘having adhered to the Forces raised against the Parliament’.